Friday reflection

Remember your agency

A winter landscape where the sun rises past a snowy field

Dear mighty community,

As we head into this election year, I want to name something that I think many of us are feeling, even if we might not talk about it, and that is heaviness at the state of the world. Wars continue to rage, dangerous politics unfold, and so much other suffering persists. Amidst all of this, it is easy to lose hope, but we mustn’t, and not just because of some kind of easy Instagram aphorism.

Instead, we must remember that human history is filled with not just darkness but also so much light. We have agency, and the choices we make matter — from the candidates we support, to the media we consume and create, to the ways in which we spend our dollars… and invest them. In other words: We have the power to create the light; to BE the light.

“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

- Howard Zinn

When, inevitably, you find yourself despairing, I implore you to remember that you can be the light, and that you are part of a community of women who are the light every single day. When you are too tired to shine, one of us will do it for you.

You are a mighty force.

Amanda